Finger bandages (also sometimes referred to in the art as first-aid bandages or strip bandages) are of course well known as well as having achieved wide commercial success. Such bandages typically consist of an elongated backing carrying on one side thereof a layer of a medical grade pressure-sensitive adhesive. An absorbent pad is substantially centrally disposed on the adhesive layer intermediate the ends of the bandage, leaving free adhesive on either side of the absorbent pad for securing the dressing to the skin over a wound, which free adhesive will be covered by a release sheet to avoid premature contact of the adhesive to a substrate.
The most widely used packaging means comprises individual wrappers for each bandage which must be torn open to gain access to the bandage. The release sheets are then removed and the bandage applied to the wound.
While such packaging mechanism does provide a sterile enclosure, it nevertheless suffers from certain disadvantages, chief of which are awkwardness and/or difficulty in application, especially without inadvertently touching the absorbent pad to be applied over the wound and to which a topical agent, e.g. petroleum jelly or antibiotic ointment may have been first applied.
Consequently, various packaging and dispensing means have heretofore been suggested to obviate this problem. However, primarily due to cost of manufacture, none of these packaging and dispensing means, to the best of Applicant's knowledge, have ever achieved any significant commercial success to the extent that to date the market leaders, "BAND-AID" (trademark of Johnson & Johnson) and "CURAD" (trademark of The Kendall Company) and their imitators still market their finger bandages in the manner described above, a plurality of the individually wrapped finger bandages then being packaged in an outer box or container.
While not intended to represent a comprehensive search of the art, the following patents may be taken as illustrative of the state of the art pertaining to packages for dispensing finger bandages: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,969,144 of Zackheim; 3,018,881 of Wall; 3,347,361 of Lindeke; 4,182,449 issued to Kozlow; 4,574,951 issued to Weaver; 3,835,992 of Adams; 4,666,040 of Murata; 4,781,293 of Johns; 4,913,138 of Yoshida et al; and 5,133,477 of Etheredge (the instant Applicant) and Charkoudian.
Stated simply, the task of the present invention is to devise a cost-effective and therefore commercially feasible system for packaging and dispensing individual finger bandages and which inhibits and therefore minimizes inadvertent contact of the fingers or hand with the pad to be applied over the wound.